I have a nephew, Yannic, who is 16 months old. I only just met him for the first time a couple of weeks ago. But even though I have been physically absent from his life so far, I must have had some influence. At least I’d like to think that I share a telepathic bond with him, thereby teaching him the magic that is Social Media. The media studies researcher in me interprets what happened differently though…

Yannic apparently thinks that sheep are awesome animals. So my sister-in-law looked up some videos featuring sheep on YouTube for his entertainment. He loved it! He loved it so much, that he woke up my brother early the next morning, made him get up, lead him over to the laptop and expressed a loud “Baa-baa”. My brother encoded correctly: Yannic, baaing at the computer, wanted him to find more sheep-videos on YouTube. Being a good dad, my brother followed his wishes to a satisfactory outcome for the young YouTube watcher…

Why is this cute little story more important to society as a whole than you’d think? Because it illustrates how children learn media use, and how important Social Media are to them already. We got our first computer at home when I was about ten years old. That was in the late eighties. The first time I used the Internet was in 1994. As you’ll remember if you’re older than twenty, it was nothing like it is now. My nephew can only say a handful of words, but he knows where to find the information he wants. Not the TV is the main means of video entertainment anymore, YouTube is a viable source of information and entertainment. He figured out that the grown ups around him can conjure up stuff he likes to watch for him on that laptop device. No doubt he will be able to do it himself sooner than us grown-ups can imagine.

The internet and Social Media sites – big ones and small ones – are rapidly becoming an important part in people’s lives. And children are growing up with them – they will expect (and many University grads already are!) to use Social Media sites and networks at school and in their jobs. It is absolutely vital for us grown-ups to not only realize and embrace the benefits of Social Media, but to see the bigger picture: Society is changing.